Text: Overnight flowers
When it comes to British cinema, many viewers are not strangers. Among those pop culture that have become household names, the common one is to rely on the Hollywood film industry to achieve strong output in the field of action, fantasy, adventure and other genres, such as the "Harry Potter" and "007" series; the other is born out of literary works, showing the past aristocratic life or the living conditions of different classes to enlighten contemporary audiences, from James Ivory's "Howard Manor" to Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility", this classical British culture film also has a continuous impact.
A common problem caused by such films is that although they are prominent in style and form brand characteristics, we cannot perceive the real contemporary style, the life atmosphere of ordinary people, and the cold and warm life full of contradictions and conflicts in reality. In any country's films, mainstream commercial films and genre films are important, but the kind of fine works that reflect reality, reflect on human nature, and criticize reality are still indispensable.
Stephen Dudley's "Out of My World" is a masterpiece that rebels against the stereotypes and conservative values of traditional British films. The film takes the living conditions of an ordinary miner's family and a child's "ballet dream" as the main plot, on the one hand, it reflects the shortcomings of traditional education methods inspired by modern values, and how to realize the universal problem of self-ideal value and establish self-personality; on the other hand, it shows the bitterness and loneliness of ordinary people from the side of a family at the bottom of society, free from the mainstream discourse, and has a strong emotional impact.
01
The film reveals the alienation of gender biases and stereotypes on human personality, and advocates a value that follows personal talent and inner will. In the general mainstream "women's films", what is accused and criticized is usually the objectification and restraint of traditional concepts on women, and the pursuit of women's independence and the return of self-worth are certainly in line with mainstream values, but few people have noticed that stereotypical and conservative gender prejudice is a constraint and imprisonment on men. "Out of My World" reveals from a deeper perspective the obstacles to the development of personality by the inherent prejudices of such people.
In the traditional parental concept in the past, boys should focus on sports, science and engineering, girls should engage in literature, dance, music, jumping leather bands, jumping rope, kicking shuttlecocks are girls' sports, football, basketball is what boys should love. This stereotype certainly has a certain basis, because in general, from the perspective of human physiological characteristics, men are generally higher than women in terms of strength, desire to take risks, and aggression.
But when a traditional, rigid, rigid cognition becomes a kind of discourse violence, it invisibly defines our thinking and behavior, and becomes a kind of shackles that shackle people's development freedom and inner will, and suppress people's growth. Very few people think: What is the way a boy should look? What is it that a girl should look like? The rebellion against conservative value discourse, aesthetic prejudice against human nature, and self-personality constraints have always been common themes in mainstream film and television works in the new millennium, and this reshaping of masculinity and femininity is also reflected in the changes in mainstream star temperament.
With "Room" won the 88th Oscar after Brie Larson, with the female superhero in "Captain Marvel" began to set off a rebellion against stereotyped gender labels, she declared to the audience that the charm of women is not necessarily feminine, weak, gentle, introverted, her well-defined facial features, straightforward, cheerful, sharp, capable temperament, showing the beauty of women's independence and strength. With "Little Women" and "Call Me by Your Name", the popular young actor Timothy Chalame, his image temperament is also more detached from the original vigor and rigidity of the male protagonist of traditional Westerns and gangster films, showing a temperament that is warm and cute in line with modern urban civilization.
The modern aesthetic standard is precisely to break the old gender impression, pedantic gender prejudice, to explore the real temperament characteristics and unique personality charm of each person, women can be strong, autonomous, keen, and assertive, and men can also be gentle, delicate, sensitive and clean.
"Beyond My World" cleverly integrates this gender temperament thinking into the image of "dance". Dance is not only a sport, showing a strong body full of strength and the flexibility of the self to balance itself in harmony; at the same time, it is also a performing art, which requires not only physical brute force and rough attack in the simple sense, but also a sense of music and inner sensitivity to art. This combination of rigidity and softness, masculinity and suppleness is just the embodiment of modern gender values (breaking the traditional duality of male and female, rigid and soft).
Therefore, the protagonist of the film, Billy Eliot (Jamie Bell), rejects his father's will to force (practice boxing) and follows his own will (feeling ballet and enjoying the inner experience of dancing himself), which is a psychological portrayal of rebelling against traditional gender prejudices and reshaping modern temperament. And Billy Eliot seems to be delicate on the outside and weak in body, but in his heart he has never succumbed to the will of his father and brother, and has been pursuing his inner voice, his brave independence without fear of worldly vision, his self-confidence and self-improvement without fear of gossip, and his perseverance without following the tide, how can it not be another kind of strong and autonomous charm?
02
If the theme of "following one's self to break down prejudices" is an exhilarating theme for people of any cultural background and language environment, how can it be integrated into a vivid and moving real-life story and avoid falling into the empty mode of concept precedence? This is where "Out of My World" has another big success.
The film truly shows the living conditions of an ordinary British worker family, neither deliberately beautifying and whitewashing, nor falling into a kind of self-pitying decadent melancholy, exile and despair. "Out of My World" places Billy Elliott's ballet dream in a clear context of the times, reflecting the harsh labor relations in Britain at that time.
Set in 1984 in the Durham coalfields of northeast England during the Thatcher era, Billy Eliot was born into a miner's family and his father and brother were involved in the general strike. The pursuit of personal dreams is closely related to the desolate situation of the workers' families in the environment of the times, which is also the key to the film's moving, it has the temperature of reality and the fireworks intertwined with the cold and warm of the life at the bottom, both the bitterness of the powerless and helpless reality, but also the strength and tenacity of making fun in the bitterness, not abandoning and unswerving.
The role of the father is undoubtedly the key to making the film's story stand on the ground and the relationship between the characters is reasonable and harmonious, and Gary Lewis, who plays the father, also presents the complexity and typicality of the father's role to the audience. On the one hand, it is his vision and cognitive limitations as an ordinary miner, at the bottom of society, he is arrogant, rough, impatient, short-sighted, there are great problems in his education methods, and he has a full sense of machismo and brutal patriarchy, which has caused great depression in the healthy growth of Billy; on the other hand, he also has the simplicity, depth and thickness of an ordinary father, and his love is generous and implicit and never takes the initiative to speak.
As the financial source and main labor force of a family, my father was completely defeated in defending the rights and interests of workers against greedy miners and powerful magnates. The prejudice and short-sightedness of thought, the impatience and rudeness of personality, let people feel his narrowness and domineering, and in order to survive strong and forbearing, the helplessness and loneliness of the family coolie support, let people feel the weight of the father's word.
When he chose to compromise with the mining lord for the sake of his son's dream, he suffered the incomprehension and contempt of his friends, and this kind of heartache and pain that ordinary people were trapped in at home and work, and helplessness was rendered to the extreme when he hugged and cried with his eldest son.
Therefore, the antagonism of the relationship between father and son in the film has become the most moving part of the character relationship network, as a conservative-minded, grumpy traditional parent, and finally for the ideal of his son, he began to question his past understanding and prejudice, endured inner struggles and sufferings, and encouraged and encouraged at all costs. At the end, seeing the father whose son was successful, he burst into tears and had mixed feelings.
03
"Beyond My World" has achieved success in the commercial market (more than 100 million US dollars at the global box office) and achieved a good audience reputation (Douban score of 8.8), which also raises a question, that is, how to interpret the realistic theme of telling the living conditions and spiritual world of young people and chasing dreams will attract more audiences to see?
In the 80s, British films such as "Sid and Nancy" were born punk band biopics, which, although they have a deeper social criticism, depict the helplessness and pain of ordinary young people in the face of turbulent social changes, unpredictable living environments, unpredictable futures, and the deep marrow; but psychedelic rock and roll and its derivative "youth culture" are always free from an overly self-exiled, self-obsessed and melancholy temperament, that frustration, loss, resentment and madness make people feel cathartic. But it can't bring bright colors to the public.
Therefore, Stephen Dedley's "Jump Out of My World" does not have cynical depression and depression, nor does it have ambition and self-hatred, but more of a warm pulse full of human warmth and warmth, the ups and downs of the world, a kind of frankness and innocence that is not arrogant and impatient, not hurried, showing a firmness and calmness, but also without losing vitality and fun. The gentle and delicate soundtrack, the neat but not rigid composition, not overly decorative but unique color, can be found in the director's subsequent works "All the Time" and "Reader".
The reason why "Out of My World" is widely recognized is not only the director's accurate grasp of the audience's psychology, but also the optimism and perseverance shown in it, even if life is still harsh and cold, the treatment of life still needs an uncompromising attitude, perseverance spirit, growing independent, chasing dreams, and finding the process of self-realization is still irreplaceable, and the film also reminds the audience to feel and cherish the beauty of growth and the process of surpassing the self.